Eating well in Brasil

Yet another trip that incorporated both exercise and the gaining of weight. First stop after deplaning, Ostradamus on Florianopolis.


Although, yes, we ate the famous oysters, this local dish, berbigão, was definitely the highlight - literally hundreds, maybe thousands of cockles, stewed with potatoes and served with rice, farofa (powdered manioc), and also what I can best describe as a manioc-based poi. How DO they open all those cockles though? Hard work. Delicious!


Big avocado! Must be the humidity/gravity/timezone.


Biker's repast of fried polenta, palm hearts salad, and caipirinha.


Rice fields near Ilhota. I don't know what the breed of rice is in this area, but it was very tasty.


Bananas near Luiz Alves. Acres, and acres of banana plantations.


I'd always imagined chicken coops to be smellier.


Oddly, I enjoyed the Peruvian food better at the restaurant literally around the corner from my friend's place than I did in Peru... well, I exaggerate a little, but... and yes, this is what you think it is.


Porto Belo may not be up to much, but it does host some fantastic baked goods.


How did it take a week to actually eat some proper beef? Our celebratory post-cyclethon dinner.


Washed down with some surprisingly decent Brasilian wine. Not particularly interesting, but not bad, not "fake", not aspiring to any international stylings, which was nice.


Moqueca, Brasilian fish stew. The coconut milk and corander had me a bit confused, with the right level of heat this could have passed for Thai (but brought back to center with some local chili concoctions.)


And finally, last meal, a family barbecue, churrasca, in the built-in fire pit... must get me one of these.